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Sunday, 18 December 2016

Before and after pics of Aleppo

The Battle of Aleppo which began on July 19, 2012 is part of the ongoing Syrian Civil War. It is a major military confrontation between the Syrian opposition – Free Syrian Army and Sunni Fighters including Levant Front – in partial cooperation with the Army of Conquest – it includes Jabhat Fateh al-Sham – against the Syrian Armed Forces of the Syrian government, supported by Hezbollah, Shiite militias and Russia.

The stalemate which was in place for four years ended in July 2016 when the Syrian government troops closed the rebels’ only supply line into Aleppo. This angered the rebel forces and they launched unsuccessful counteroffensives in September and October.

In November, government forces embarked on a decisive campaign that resulted in the recapture of most of Aleppo by December 2016. The Syrian government victory was widely seen as a "turning point" in Syria's civil war, while Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hailed it as "historic".

Combatants named it the "mother of battles" or "Syria's Stalingrad” due to the large scale devastation of the battle.

Following the re-capture of most of Aleppo by the Syrian government in December, the UN received reports that pro-government forces have been carrying out massacres of civilians in Eastern Aleppo. At least 82 civilians, including children, have been killed, that have been described as 'war crimes'. Syrian troops discovered several prisons in East Aleppo used by the opposition to detain, torture and in some cases murder their opponents, including civilians that refused to fight.

The battle caused catastrophic destruction to the Old City of Aleppo, a UNESCO World Heritage site. After four brutal years of fighting, the battle represents one of the longest sieges in modern warfare and one of the bloodiest battles of the Syrian Civil War, which left an estimated 31,000 people dead, almost a tenth of the overall war casualties, which is estimated to be at least 400,000.

Here’s a collection of pics which shows the Before and After scene in Aleppo: